Get all 8 Quiet Takes releases available on Bandcamp and save 15%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Regrets Only, Weekly, Weakly, Guess Who Showed Up Again, Ghosty Was Here, San Fidel, San Fidel, Ahem., and Wanted (The Dirty Windshield Version).
1. |
Invitation
04:29
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I’m waiting for an invitation
Like some pale, wan one
Standing on the front step
All the curtains drawn
I’m waiting for an invitation
Like some devil’s dog
Sitting on the back stoop
All the lights gone off
I’m waiting for an invitation
Like some graveyard guard
Sleeping in the rose bed
All the windows barred
I’m waiting for an invitation
Like some deadbeat dawn
Footprints in the driveway
I’ll be moving on
I’ll be moving on
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2. |
Oxbow Shower
03:22
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It’s all embarrassment now
Walk the gauntlet and smile
It’s all embarrassment now
Feed flush to fire (fire)
I fucked up
I left it
Thought that somebody else would collect it
I fucked up
I was waiting
For a gold foil, letterpress lost invitation
It’s a bad blush baby
Cooling in the shower
From the warmed-over regret banking every hour
Cure the crush now, honey
Put the heat back into the fire,
Fire, the fire, fire, the fire
It’s all embarrassment now
Hold your hot cheeks high
It’s all embarrassment now
Feed flush to fire (fire)
I fucked up
I missed it
I was pining for divine signs of permission
I fucked up
Bowing legend
Relegating self-sung duty to second
It’s a bad blush baby
Cooling in the shower
From the warmed-over regret banking every hour
Cure the crush now, honey
Put the heat back into the fire,
Fire, the fire, fire, the fire, fire
The fire
I fucked up
I fucked up
I fucked up
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3. |
Purebred
05:01
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I’m not the one wanting the vial
Delivered to the door
Labeled and neat, no heat
One hundred percent
Pure
All tics checked
Simple direct
No mystery left
Smoke without scent
I’m not the one taking comfort
In the page turn
Delusion of the vast cast
Backup confirmed
New twist hiss
Cannot miss
Built tolerance
Order up this
‘Cause I don’t have the breath left to low, to low
And I don’t have the patience to show, to show you
What love, what love, what love
What love is
What love is
I’m the one running
From the syringe and the squeeze shoot
No pasture, no balm
Just this teased
Truth
Stuck in the shit
Shoveling
Huffing out mist
Pushing against
‘Cause I don’t have the breath left to low, to low
And I don’t have the patience to show, to show you
What love, what love, what love
What love is
What love is
Unart—Unartificial
Unart—Unartificial
‘Cause I don’t have the breath left to low (low it)
And I don’t have the patience to show (show you)
‘Cause I don’t have the breath left to low (low it)
And I don’t have the patience to show (show you)
I’m standing, I’m standing right—
I’m standing, I’m standing right—
I’m standing, I’m standing right here
What love, what love, what love
What love is
What love is
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4. |
Bruise
04:13
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I woke up with a bruise on my breast
Yellow smudge, purple blush at the edge
I tried to wash it off
I think it’s from not being touched enough
I stayed up: Only Lovers Left Alive
I want to sleep with someone’s arm ‘cross my thigh
I tried to walk it off
This feeling of not being warm enough
If it’s not what you have, then it’s nothing you need
I’m getting real good at making believe
That’s true
I lit up, loose the fist in my chest
Do you, too, when the doorways compress
I tried to count it off
One more breath before I’m fine enough
I made up a daydream of you
Phantom hand to pull me on through
I try to laugh it off
You can’t always get what you want
They say to give up or they say to get out
And both can’t be true, but it’s better than doubt
Doubting the game
I woke up
I woke up
I woke up
I woke up
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5. |
No One Again
03:34
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I don’t want to write a song about you
Pink elephant in the middle of the room
Helium hissing from a black balloon
I don’t want to write a song about you
I don’t want to write a song about you
Satellite streak, eclipse of the moon
Broken arm slinging from an uncaught swoon
I don’t want to write a song about you
And when they ask me who
I’ll say nobody, and it’ll be true
True
I don’t want to write a song about you
Fingerprinted glass, hinted perfume
Far-off echo from a long-gone tune
I don’t want to write a song about you
I don’t want to write a song about you
Anvil dropping in a silent cartoon
Curtain floating in a still afternoon
I don’t want to write a song about you
And when they ask me who
I’ll say nobody, and it’ll be true
True
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6. |
Choose
04:05
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It comes in waves
It comes in contractions
Call me Sisyphus
Anybody interested in switching myths?
Keep on triggering
I’ll paint pointilistic portraits with the bullet holes
Keep on burying
I’ll build earthform installations with the burrows
Flipping rocks
Throwing stones
I’ve been so very good
For so very long
Keep on silencing
Watch me John Cage the shit out of your speaker hiss
Keep on cutting in
Making big paper prints with the cross sections
I’m trying to believe in beauty
I’m trying to believe
I’m trying to believe in beauty
Is it too much to ask for you to choose me?
God, I was numb
God, I was blind
God, I was dumb
God, I was polite
God, I was numb
God, I was blind
God, I was young
God, I was polite
God, I was trying to get out alive
I was just trying to get out alive
I’m trying to believe in beauty
I’m trying to believe
I’m trying to believe in beauty
Is it too much to ask for you to choose me?
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7. |
Meri Said
03:13
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Meri said:
“I wanna slipstream ice
Pity the proof
Smile fierce & kind”
Molly said:
“I’m raising rackets high
I wanna lose
Count it as a find”
(Breaking tiles in empty rooms)
Trying to get down to the metamorphic core of it
(Floating slack in tidal pools)
Trying to get down to the metaphoric war of it
(Making titles into tombs)
Trying to get down to the sophomoric chore of it
Trying to get down — trying to get
Trying to get down — trying to get
Trying to get down
Billy said:
“I’m born anew, drifting
I’m gonna choose
To lean the howlin’ wind”
Katie said:
“We’re not through molting
Go cocoon
and start again”
(Breaking tiles in empty rooms)
Trying to get down to the enigmatic part of it
(Floating slack in tidal pools)
Trying to get down to the hemorrhagic art of it
(Making titles into tombs)
Trying to get down to the aromatic heart of it
Trying to get down — trying to get
Trying to get down — trying to get
Trying to get down
Meri said:
“I wanna slipstream ice
Pity the proof
Smile fierce & kind"
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8. |
Casual Sex
04:09
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Oh, I spent nine years getting cooly and casually fucked
By a man who was supposed to love all of me
But when we went to bed his soul rolled back, rolled back
He didn’t touch to learn, he didn’t look to see
I could have been any body
I was any —
Yeah, it put me off of it
Forgive me: Desire should be specific
Not this cold compartment
But all-encompassing
Well my body shut down, my body, she gave up
While he ran around making himself just so lonely
So I set myself free, but they tell me it’s fun
To go back to the gaslight I escaped from
I won’t be any body
‘Cause it put me off of it
Forgive me: Desire should be specific
Not this blunt instrument
But wild and mythic
But wild, wild, wild
I’m not asking for a timeline
I don’t need a treatise
I’m not asking for perfection
I’m not looking for Jesus
I’m not waiting on a rings, hon
I don’t need your promises
I’m just asking: Are you serious?
Are you serious?
Well, are you?
Yeah, it put me off of it
Forgive me: Desire should be specific
Not this blunt instrument
But wild and mythic
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9. |
Cornerstone
03:55
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We used to sit shoulder to shoulder
I used to put my feet up on the velvet
We used to sing all of the verses
I used to write what you said in my notebook
There’s a joke about The Goldfinch
I never finished, and Matty’s climbing in the back
There’s a note about the wrong things and who gets shelter
The congregation’s starting to crack
When you said I was—
When you said I was—
We used to play Suf before sunrise
I used to know which of the keys stuck
We used to stand easy in circles
I used to think I could convince you
There's a point about privilege
But you won’t take it, and Jessi says I’ll know when to leave
Disappointed in the right things, the front door’s making
A growl that sounds like grief
When you said I was—
When you said I was—
And we’re throwing the cornerstones into the river
We’re building up the banks
And we’re feeding the shoring fires with our old bulletins
We're editing the blanks
When you said I was—
When you said I was—
When you said I was brave you meant wrong
But I know right, that ain’t right
When you said I was brave you meant wrong
But I know right, that ain’t right
I know right, and that ain’t right
And we’re throwing the cornerstones into the river
We’re building up the banks
And we’re feeding the shoring fires with our old bulletins
We're editing the blanks
When you said I was—
I know right, that ain’t right
When you said I was—
I know right, that ain’t right
When you said I was—
You know right, so goddamn do right
When you said I was—
I know right
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10. |
Rocky
03:52
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You’ve got your head so far up a tree
My calls coil in knots, they beg you to leave
I coax, when you come, I back right on down
You scare me, you steal me the most gorgeous sounds
Come, lay your head in my lap
We’ll go through the trash you dug from the neighbor’s bin
Come, take off your mask
This fever will pass, we’ll tell each other stories, stories, stories
Stories, stories
You run the night, I work all day
We pass in the dusk, I push you to stay
I leave you a plate, you carve me a sign
Lines on the nightstand, the last drop of wine
Come, leave footprints in ash
I burned all the plans I made before you came in
Come, open your hand
It all goes to sand, we’ll tell each other stories, stories, stories
Stories, stories
You, you brought me the good stuff this time
You brought me the good stuff this time
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11. |
Central Time
05:01
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Better admitting defeat
I'm not when I should be
Shadow soloed in sun
Back door hinging to run
Follow my lead
Follow my lead nowhere
Hollow the tree
Holler and plead: no fair
I'm the vulture shrugging the sparrow off her wing
I'm the egg kicked underwater at the spring
I'm the coyote tracking the fence line
I'm back on central time
Better bitter and free
It’s not what I thought it would be
Borrowed bed for a week
Pillow hot on my cheek
Follow my lead
Follow my lead looping
Wallow in reeds
Bother to bleed losing
I'm the rose dust spit up alongside the seed
I'm the runtling rumbling at the dandelion feed
I’m the coyote running the fence line
I'm stuck on Central Time
I’m the heron hiding in the cover of cloud
I’m the slick-oil back golding under bow
I'm the coyote straying the fence line
I'm always
I'm always on
Central Time
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Quiet Takes
Songwriter Sarah Magill makes music for feelers as Quiet Takes. A writer and wanderer, Magill has a nomadic creative practice and released her first full-length solo album (recorded in Eau Claire, WI, with producer Zach Hanson) February 2024.
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